A Bit of Good News Among the Bad

From the Washington Post: "Shutdowns prevented 60 million coronavirus infections in the U.S., study finds

"The coronavirus would have infected nearly one in five Americans, 60 million people, in the first few weeks of the outbreak without shutdowns or social distancing, according to a peer-reviewed study led by the University of California at Berkeley. The paper credited quarantine policies with preventing hundreds of millions of cases globally through early April, and a separate study estimated that shutdowns saved at least 3.1 million lives in Europe."

"The two studies, published simultaneously Monday, suggest that government freezes on public activity prevented catastrophic outbreaks in many countries. The downside is that researchers think only a small fraction of the population has been exposed to the virus, leaving ample opportunity for major outbreaks if quarantines are abandoned. 'We’re very far from herd immunity,' the leader author of one study told The Post. 'The risk of a second wave happening if all interventions and precautions are abandoned is very real.'"

It's frightening to think that the virus could have been even more deadly than it is, and of course we're still dealing with it, so we have a very long way to go. But any good news on the coronavirus front is welcome right now.